CANADIAN LABOUR:

SOLIDARITY WITH SHELTER WORKERS:

The following appeal for online solidarity is from Local 3851 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) who represent workers at the Nelson House shelter for abused women and children in the Ottawa-Carlton area (yes fellow Manitobans, this has nothing to do with the Nelson House First Nation here in this province).

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Support CUPE 3851 at Nelson House Women’s Shelter Appuyons le SCFP 3851‏:
The workers of Nelson House, a shelter for abused women and children, need your help. The workers, members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 3851, are fighting to deliver their vital services as they fend off dramatic concessions and claw-backs that management is demanding.
Email the board today:
http://cupe.ca/action/cupe-3851-nelson-house

Any agency that strives to create a safe place for women and kids escaping violence and abuse must at least ensure that its workers are treated with respect. But management’s proposed re-write of the agency’s collective agreement does the exact opposite.

Management wants to restrict shift scheduling, dramatically increase part-timers’ probationary periods, weaken lay-off provisions, reduce personal and union leave, cut health benefits, restrict access to benefits for part-timers – the list goes on and on, all for no good reason.

There’s no financial crisis. There’s no crisis at all, except for the one management is creating by trashing the collective agreement.

You can help. Email the board and tell them to walk the talk at Nelson House.

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Français:

Les membres de la section locale 3851 du SCFP, qui travaillent pour la maison de refuge pour femmes battues Nelson House, ont besoin de votre aide!

Les travailleuses de Nelson House, qui vient en aide à des femmes battues et leurs enfants, ont besoin de votre aide. Ces membres de la section locale 3851 du Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique (SCFP) doivent lutter contre les concessions draconiennes qu’exige leur employeur pour continuer de fournir les services essentiels qu’ils assurent.

Toute agence qui s’efforce de créer un lieu sûr pour les femmes et les enfants qui cherchent à s’échapper des actes de violence et des agressions doit au minimum veiller à traiter ses propres employées avec respect. Toutefois, dans sa réécriture proposée de la convention collective, l’employeur fait justement le contraire.

La direction cherche à restreindre l’horaire des quarts de travail, prolonger de façon draconienne les périodes probatoires des employées à temps partiel, assouplir les dispositions sur les mises à pied, couper dans les congés pour raisons personnelles et syndicales, réduire les prestations de santé, limiter l’admissibilité des employées à temps partiel au régime d’avantages sociaux et ainsi de suite, pour aucune raison justifiée ou apparente.

Il n’y a aucune crise financière. Il n’y a aucune crise du tout, sauf celle que crée la direction elle-même en sabrant dans la convention collective.

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THE LETTER:

I was shocked and saddened to hear how drastically management is gutting the collective agreement with its front-line staff, represented by CUPE 3851. There is no justification for such a dramatic assault on your employees’ working conditions.

Your proposed re-write of the collective agreement is not acceptable. Please drop the attack and bargain in good faith.


Nelson House workers just want to keep doing their work. They want to see their organization’s founding feminist principles in action, not just in rhetoric. And they want a safe place to work with a collective agreement, and a board, that values their work.
If you want the same things, please drop your aggressive and unwarranted attack on your workers.